DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-9 and 11-17 in the reply filed on 03/11/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Tsuji fails to disclose “pre-weighing” because Tsuji performs continuous feed-rate control therefore Tsuji fails to teach the claimed coating system, the technical feature shared between the two groups. This is not found persuasive because Claim 1 recites a dosing unit for pre-weighing a solid material to be conveyed and does not require a separate weighing station a discrete bath-weighing operation or storage of the weighted quantity prior to conveyance. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the claimed “pre-weighing’ encompasses gravimetric determination or measurement of powder mass prior to delivery of the powder to the substrate. Tsuji’s gravimeter feeding device measures mass before and during conveyance, as the gravimeter is located on the bottom of the powder feeder of Fig. 1, prior to the conveyance unit.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsuji et al. (US 2011/0229635).
As to claims 1, Tsuji et al. discloses a coating system for coating a substrate (honeycomb filter) (see Fig. 1/Fig. 2, abstract, 0018-0019), comprising: a dosing unit for a solid material conveyed (powder feeding device 24 of Fig.2 with a gravimeter (mass meter) see 0078); a conveying unit for conveying the solid material to the substrate by mixing with a conveying gas (see 0075 – ejector); a receiving unit for receiving the substrate downstream of the conveying unit (see 12 of Fig. 2); an automatic transfer mechanism for transferring substrate to and out of receiving unit (see Fig. 4); a control unit for controlling the operation (see 0035) ; and a gas flow generating device(see 0075, 23 of Fig. 2). As to the “pre-weighing” limitation, under the broadest reasonable interpretation encompasses determining or measuring the mass of powder prior to conveyance to the substrate, the gravimeter powder feeding device of Tsuji determines the mass of powder supplied to the ejector prior to conveyance by the air current thereby meeting the limitation.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 2 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuji et al. (US 2011/0229635) in view of Lashmore (US 5897826).
The teachings of Tsuji et al. as applied to claim 1 are as stated above.
Tsuji et al. fails to teach dosing unit as required by claims 2 and 3.
Lashmore et al. teaches a powder feed system including a powder container, dispensing mechanism, gravimetric weighing device, and feedback controlled dispensing operations. Lashmore et al. teaches monitoring powder mass during dispensing and controlling the powder delivery based on measured weight values in order to achieve desired particulate loading accuracy (see col. 1, lines 28-31; col. 11, lines 26-58 and Fig. 5).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the gravimetric weighing and feedback controlled dispensing system of Lashmore et al. in the coating system of Tsuji et al. One would have been motivated to do so since both are directed to powder delivery systems using a gravimetric measuring devices where Lashmore et al. teaches a system providing improve powder dosing precision and consistency.
As to claim 3, Lashmore teaches a control unit that receives a weight measurement value of the solid material dispensing into the container from the weighing device, and compares the weight to a predetermined weight and controls the opening and closing of the value to stop the dispensing of the solid material when it reaches the predetermined value (see col. 9, lines 23-40).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuji et al. (US 2011/0229635) as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Bellham et al. (US 2021/0046467).
The teachings of Tsuji et al. as applied to claim 1 are as stated above.
Tsuji et al. teaches the system has a substrate holding section but fails to teach the backpressure measuring device to determine the weight of the powder coating as required by claim 17.
Bellham et al. teaches an apparatus for treating a filter with a powder substance comprising a powder feeder, a conveying unit for moving the powder toward the filter; a holding unit for the filter (5 of Fig. 1) and a connecting pipeline for connecting the holding unit and the gas flow generating device (see 10 of Fig. 1); a pressure sensor and flow rate sensor (see 0116, 0117, and 0120). Bellham et al. further teaches measuring backpressure associated with the filter and using the backpressure to evaluate coating conditions and filter characteristics (see 0117,0124,0143, and 0152).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Tsuji et al. to include a backpressure measuring device and using the measurement to determine the appropriate amount of powder loading as taught by Bellham et al. One would have been motivated to do so since both are directed to filter loading systems where Bellham et al. further teaches using backpressure measuring to control the powder loading of the filter.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-9 and 11-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: As to claims 4-8, Douche et al. (US 4807814) discloses a multi-second pneumatic conveying conduit for powder comprising a suction chamber and a venturi (see 14 of Figs) geometry for powder entrainment and dispersion. The conduit comprises cylindrical transport sections, converging and diverging sections but fails to teach or suggest a movable conduit assembly to provide a drop-down sealing arrangement between the ejector and the filter substrate as required by claim 4.
As to claim 9, Bellham teaches a filter holder, a conveying unit for moving the powder toward the filter; a holding unit for the filter (5 of Fig. 1) and a connecting pipeline for connecting the holding unit and the gas flow generating device (see 10 of Fig. 1); a pressure sensor and flow rate sensor (see 0116, 0117, and 0120). Bellham teaches the sensors are provided after the filter not within the connecting pipeline, fails to disclose a cooling device positioned near the fan. Bellham focusing on coating control, back pressure measurement, and flow monitoring. The prior art fails to teach or suggest the claimed location of the sensors and the cooling of the gas streams near the fan as required by claim 9.
As to claim 13, Tsuji et al. teaches automated transferring of the substrates between coating operations by fails to teach a loading table with a conveying unit and receiving unit; a feeding device arranged close to the loading table and an output on the other side as required by claim 13.
Conclusion
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/CACHET I. PROCTOR/
Examiner
Art Unit 1712
/CACHET I PROCTOR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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